He shook his head. “They’re expecting you. I’m tolerated but not welcomed.” He turned back toward the car. “I’ll have Nikolai take me to the airport. I think you’ll be here awhile. I’ll phone Tanner and let him know Nikolai will put you on a later plane.” He glanced back at her. “Don’t think I’m soft. It’s not as if I cared. I did it all for Cara.”

“I know.” She smiled gently at him. “And for the music.”

* * *

New York City
8:40 P.M.

“Well, you do look happy.” Tanner’s skeptical gaze was narrowed on Lara’s face as he took her duffel and headed for the limo stand. “Kaskov said that he’d already taken care of a number of your problems, and I wasn’t to interfere. I told him to go to hell. Is everything okay?”

“I believe everything may be very much okay. I’ll tell you all about it later.” She chuckled. “I got the impression that Kaskov was a little annoyed that you’d seen fit to take over getting me settled here in the U.S. He particularly mentioned Juilliard. I think he was outraged you’d interfered with his plans. I decided he may be regarding it as a competition.”

“Too bad.” He stopped her before she got into the limousine and pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “Did you tell him I always win?” He kissed her again. “And I’ve no intention of losing this one. It’s too important. The stakes are too high. Kaskov doesn’t stand a chance.”

“I told him you like to be best.” She reached up and caressed his cheek. “I didn’t tell him that you were definitely the best for me because that would only have irritated him. He was sure I couldn’t ignore what he was offering me.” She shook her head in amusement. “He researched me very thoroughly. He made it almost irresistible.”

“Almost? That never wins the game.” He opened the door for her and nudged her gently into the limo. “Not when I’ve got an ace in the hole.” He leaned inside and kissed her again. “I’ll join you later. Turn on the videoconferencing. Maria wants to talk to you.” He slammed the door shut and motioned for the driver to take off.

Lara sat there stunned for a moment before she found the videoconferencing app on the console monitor screen and punched it. Maria’s face came on the screen. “Thank heavens you’re here, Lara. What’s Tanner up to?” she asked. “Ever since I arrived here this morning, I’ve felt like I’ve been in the middle of a tornado.” She added, “Not a destructive tornado. Some exceptionally good things, but difficult to assimilate and take in. I decided I’d wait for you instead of trying to dig deep into Tanner’s psyche. That could be very time consuming.”

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. Tanner made all the flight arrangements to get us here, and the only thing he told me was that he’d take you to New York to get you settled.” She drew a deep breath. “But I think that you’d better begin telling me about the tornado. First, where are you?”